Reclaiming Now
by A Writer of Fiction
Summary: Xero must find... that man. The one who will in time be the downfall of us all. That man is... Sonic? What? No, there must be some mistake, Sonic can't be... he wouldn't... right? Pairings undecided, aside from ReadReview.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, SEGA (specifically, Yuji Naka, if I recall correctly) does. I do, however, own Xero, Lupus

A/N:

WriterXero: Alright, I've been meaning to write this story for some time now, and it's time to finally stop stalling and get on with it!

Silver: Precisely!

WXero: No more stalling, just boldly beginning!!!

Shadow: Damn straight!

WXero: No turning back!

Sonic: Yeah!

WXero: No redundant announcements!

Silver, Shadow, and Sonic: …

WXero: Maybe another day, but not now! Today we finally begin-

SilShadSon: GET ON WITH IT!!!

WXero: … fine, be that way…

We begin our tale in a surprisingly-not-dystopian future, between the present and Silver's timeline. In fact, one could almost call it utopian. Mobius finds itself in a state where technology makes people's lives almost obscenely easier, yet doesn't interfere with nature.

The only remaining threat to this peace is an organization that claims that the union of nature and technology is unnatural, called '!.' Yes, it's called !. While this is how the group writes its name, when verbalized, imagine it pronounced as the word 'Exclaim.'

The hero of the day is a burgundy porcupine dressed in a black leather jacket called Xero. He also wears black jeans, a pair of grey sneakers, and a white long-sleeve shirt under his jacket.

Xero's tragic past? Well, he doesn't have one of those, sorry. He does, however, have a good ol' fashioned sense of justice. As such, he fights ! to preserve peace on Mobius. The irony is not lost on him.

He's also fortunate enough not to be doing it alone. By Xero's side is a young female arctic fox called Sasha. She dresses in a grey and white striped shirt, with two black belts holding her red skirt with a black diamond pattern. On her feet are knee high black boots, and around her neck is a light blue and purple scarf. The grey fur on her head covers her right eye.

Sasha isn't one to talk too much, and it's possible that she does indeed have a tragic past. Even Xero doesn't know, she always has changed the subject whenever her past comes up.

But enough of all these descriptions, on with the show! And while we're at it, out of this tense.

Xero and Sasha stood back to back with about fifty or so members of ! surrounding them. The porcupine spoke first, "Hey, Sash… can they really call themselves an organization when they have so many members?"

The fox glanced at him, "What?"

"Well, y'know. You'd think an 'organization' would only have about… I dunno, 13 or so members. These guys are more of a small nation at this point, y'folla?"

Sasha rolled her eyes, "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Xero smirked, "Maybe a little."

"Oi! You lot gonna chat eachother up all day, or are we gonna fight!?!" Random ! member # 5 asked.

The porcupine's smirk only widened, "Heh, sorry. Forgot you guys were here…" He proceeded to use several homing attacks, Sasha ripping through the crowd of soldiers with her claws. In time, the group lay… not quite dead.

A random, nameless police officer arrived on the scene, and called for back up to assist in the arrests, soon speaking to the porcupine and the arctic fox, "… Xero, Sasha, as much as we appreciate your assistance…"

Xero finished for the officer, "Vigilante justice will not be tolerated, keep our noses out of things next time and leave it to the police. Yes sir, we'll be sure to do so next time, right Sash?"

Sasha nodded in affirmation. The officer sighed, and the two teens sped off. They found themselves in a forest, where Sasha eventually let out a sigh. Xero took this as a 'we need to talk, Xero' moment.

"Sash, what's wrong?" the porcupine asked.

She sighed again, "For one thing, how many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

"4,236, and counting," Xero said with a wink.

Sasha groaned, "… never mind… anyway, as I was saying: do you ever get the feeling that despite all the ! members we deal with, we're not making any progress?"

Xero leaned against a tree… they might be here a while, "How d'you figure?"

The arctic fox sat in something akin to a fetal position, also leaning against the tree, "Well… the four most important members of ! are Bold, Misc, Kanryu, and Retaliate… we haven't even met them."

"So? We're still doing our part, aren't we?"

Yet agin she sighed, "Xero… if we were making a difference, those four would have tried to deal with us directly…"

The response to this came not from Xero, but from in the tree the two were leaning against, "Well… sounds like someone's given up hope."

From the tree leapt a young wolf, breaking his fall with his left hand. He was grey, and wore blue jeans and a red shirt with a front pocket. He had, for whatever reason, chosen not to wear shoes, and to dye the fur on his head (which jutted out at the bangs) purple. As he turned around, the two could see that he wore glasses.

Xero was the first to speak, "And who are you?"

The wolf grinned, "Lupus. Citizen of this forest in the future…" he looked about, "Wow… it really was all green once."

Sasha raised an eyebrow, but Xero was the one to actually verbalize the oddness of this statement, "Um… what other color would it be?"

"… Brown, and fiery red. ! really did a number on this place…" at the porcupine and fox's surprised looks, he nodded, "Yes… sadly ! emerges victorious when all is said and done…"

Sasha let out a squeak, seeming close to tears at the very though. Xero looked to the wolf, furious, "Why on Mobius would you tell us that!?!"

Lupus simply smiled brightly, "Because, Xero the Porcupine, if I came from the future, I can take you back to before ! was founded, and you can stop it from ever coming into existance by eliminating its leader. Kill him after it's founded, and he becomes a martyr… but kill him before, and !'ll never come into existence."

The burgundy porcupine was skeptical, "No one even knows who started it… how could I possibly find its original leader?"

The wolf didn't stop smiling, "I've done a great deal of research on the group, and I'm fairly certain I've got it figured out…" he held out his hand, and something that looked like several floating pieces of broken glass appeared, "This is a portal to the time. Step through, and you'll find the founder of !."

In a moment of hesitation, Xero looked to Sasha. She was still in a state of distress from the revelation of their failure. He looked back at Lupus, "Just tell me his name."

Xero's smile reached its widest, "Sonic the Hedgehog."

~Present~

Running along the roof tops Station Square, a blue hedgehog was on a mission of relatively epic proportions. Dr. Ivo Robotnik had apparently gone for a direct approach in gaining control of one of the chaos emeralds, sending an obscene number of robots after an emerald held in a GUN base. The hedgehog figured he'd best stop the doctor's plan, whatever it was, before it was put into action.

The hedgehog, if it wasn't plainly obvious, was Sonic. The two made mental notes to thank the doctor; his robots provided good paths for homing attacks to take sonic across assorted gaps in the buildings.

Eventually, Sonic arrived before Eggman, who looked down on him and chuckled, "Ho ho, Sonic! To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"Yo, Eggman. So, you're trying the same plan yet again?" Sonic rubbed his nose with his index finger, "Alright, let's get this over with. What overly dramatically named robot are you gonna throw at me this time?"

The doctor's eye twitched, and he shouted something unintelligible, which ended in, "So let's see how you like the EGG MINOTAUR!!!"

The Egg Minotaur was actually quite impressive, a sleek, robotic bull which could stand on just its hind legs if the need arose. Several turrets stood on its back and stomach, all of which shot high powered rockets. Sonic was somewhat distressed to find that Eggman had finally gone the non-masochistic route, placing his creation's one weakness inside the robot.

As he dashed from the beast, Sonic spoke (out loud, for some reason), "If only I had that chaos emerald, I'd be able to teleport to its weakness using chaos control!"

For a moment, what Eggman said in response made no sense, "What're you… no! Get away from me, fox boy! It's my emerald!!! Mine!!!"

Tails, Sonic's young sidekick and friend, was currently in the Egg-Carrier, trying to wrestle the chaos emerald from the doctor's grasp. Eventually, Eggman's age betrayed him, as Tails got the emerald, "Here, Sonic!!!" and threw it to Sonic.

The blue hedgehog caught the emerald, "Thanks, buddy!" he then faced the Egg Minotaur, "Alright, here we go! Chaos… control!" In a heartbeat, Sonic disappeared, reappearing within the space of a few seconds… as soon as he did, the Minotaur glowed, then exploded, its horns flying off like rockets toward Tails and Sonic.

Sonic quickly leapt onto his own causing it to spin in circles trying to hit its target, not realizing that said target was directly above it… Tails wasn't so lucky, as the horn chased him over all creation (about five square feet) until he eventually found himself cornered, and…

With a black hedgehog holding back the horn with both hands, seeming to be struggling to even do that. Shadow grimaced, "You alright, Prower?"

Tails nodded nervously, "Th-thanks, Shadow…"

"Nice goin' Shad!" Sonic gave the other hedgehog a thumbs up, leaping off the horn that had targeted him, as its confusion caused it to explode.

Shadow seemed to be visibly struggling with the horn, which desperately wanted to plow through him and Tails at mach speed, "Just… use… a… homing… attack… Sonic…"

"Oh, right!" Sonic was quick to do so, at which point Shadow released his breath.

He then looked up, "And don't call me Shad."

Eggman had long since made a break for it, so Sonic saw no need to avoid a chat with Shadow, "So, Shad, what brings you here?"

"What did I just say?" Shadow asked his own question, before moving on to answering Sonic's, "I'm a GUN agent, remember? The second the emerald was stolen, my boss was on me to get it back…"

Sonic nodded, "Oh yeah…" he smirked, "Still don't see why you'd want to work with them over the Sonic Team!" Before Shadow had joined GUN, Sonic had made him an offer to join the semi-official 'Sonic Team.' Shadow, obviously, had declined…

Shadow raised an eyebrow and allowed a grin of his own, "Oh, the 'Sonic Team?' Is that what you're calling it now?"

Sonic nodded, behind him, Tails shook his head.

Shadow smirked, "Well, since you brought it up…"

The blue hedgehog and the dual-tailed fox looked to Shadow hopefully… only for him to turn away from them, "I'll pass."

The two let out sighs of disappointment said, "Well, fine… see ya, Shad!"

Shadow looked back toward him, "… don't call me Shad," and sped off toward the GUN base.

Sonic smirked, and looked to Tails, "Hey, you got the Tornado? Station Square's getting kinda boring."

Tails nodded, "Right this way!" and the two sped off for the fox's mecha-biplane…

WriterXero: Well, that was an adventure, wasn't it?

Sonic: Wait, what was the point in my part?  
WXero: Filler.

Sonic: Filler?

WXero: Filler. In any event, you, the reader, if you'd kindly review, that would be brilliant.


	2. Chapter 2

**WriterXero: Well, let's get started, shall we?  
Shadow: You're just trying to stall the chapter again, aren't you?**

**WXero: Why would I ever do that? ^.^;**

**Sonic: Well, it has been taking a while for the chapter to, y'know… start.**

**WXero: … well, you're going to have a bazooka shot at you, so I win  
Sonic: Wait, what?**

The scene: a vast desert. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but sand, whether it was on the ground or being carried by gusts of wind. In this sea of coarse yellow, a noticeable mauve shape lay motionless.

The shape was Xero, freshly dumped into the present. Time travel had taken a great deal of energy from the porcupine, and as he was gradually covered in sand, sleep seemed a decent option…

That is, until someone poked him with a walking stick, "Hey, you alright? … for that matter, are you alive?"

Xero groaned, "Yes on both counts…" he looked up to see a red echidna. He wore two spiked gloves and a long, tattered scarf over his mouth. He looked like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to mess with, if you valued a not-caved-in-skull, "Um… who are you?"

The echidna jabbed a thumb at himself in a pointless, yet dramatic gesture, "Knuckles. Knuckles the Echidna… and you?"

Taking it as the greeting of the time period, Xero mimicked the gesture, "Xero. Xero the Porcupine."

Knuckles chuckled at this, and helped the porcupine to his feet, "What brings you out here, Xero?"

The amethyst male almost revealed his mission then and there… but decided against such a thing, "Well, to tell the truth…. I dunno," he grinned embarrassed, "I must have hit my head during the sandstorm, got amnesia, y'folla?"

To this, the echidna smiled, "I see… I was just headed back to civilization, would you like to join me?"

A look akin to amazment crossed Xero's face, "You would let me?"

"Why not?"

Xero shrugged, "I dunno… you look like more of a loner, yourself."

This caused Knuckles to laugh quite hardily, "I'm not sure if I should be offended or not!" With that, he began walking away…

The porcupine smiled some, and as he followed, he asked, "So, what's with the scarf?"

"…" Knuckles laughed a bit again, "I'm not sure. It makes for some good 'mysterious traveler' garb though, right?"

Xero chuckled a bit as well, "I guess…" Inside though, he was too focused on his mission to exchange fashion tips with Knux.

Even more so though, the porcupine worried for Sasha… '_Where'd she ended up… hopefully with someone as helpful as Knuckles...'_

~XIX~

Sonic stood on the wings of the Tornado, overlooking the ocean below them. He seemed almost overly content, just watching the waves drift by. Tails was in much less fortunate a position, having to focus on piloting. In the times when he glanced to the peaceful sea, his worries simply rose.

"Sonic, we should find somewhere to land soon!" he shouted over his biplane's noise.

The blue hedgehog looked to him, an eyebrow raised, "Why?"

"Ever hear of 'the calm before the storm?'"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, how about we land in Westopolis? I've been meaning to help with its reconstruction for a while now…" Westopolis, decimated in the Black Arms attack against Mobius, was still undergoing the reconstruction process, with little help from organizations with heavy manpower like GUN…

Tails smirked, "I guess between all of your little escapades, it somehow slipped your mind?"

Sonic grinned, "Yeah…"

In time, they found the plane landing… and so Sonic donned a construction helmet (just for a few moments, for the effect) and began his assistance… but you don't want to hear about that, do you? I mean, seriously. When's the last time you read a fanfic about construction… (A/N: Memo to myself, write a fanfic about construction…)

~XIX~

In his latest base, located in the Himalayas, Dr. Eggman watched as his spybots tracked Sonic, "Soon, hedgehog… soon I'll have you out of the way for good."

"Talking to yourself again, Ivo? You know that's not good for your health," a cheerful voice said from the doorway. In stepped a wolf, donned in a red button up shirt with a front pocket… wait… this description seems familiar…

The doctor grinned in recognition of the lupine, "Ah, Lupus, you've returned. How fared your mission?"

Lupus smiled brightly, "I fed Xero some malarkey about Sonic being the founder of some organization he was fighting. The boy puts Knuckles to shame in gullibility… there was a slight problem, though. Apparently, he had this friend, Sasha… an arctic fox. You'll love her, she's just so full of angst."

Eggman looked sternly at the wolf, "You did follow standard procedure with her, correct?"

Holding up a hand as if swearing an oath, Lupus said, "I assure you, Sasha sits in a cell as we speak… not one of those flimsy cells either. No, I doubt even you or I could escape them…"

Waving of the idea, the doctor turned back to his screen, "A preposterous notion! You and I are superior beings, Lupus, you'd think I'd drilled that into your head by now."

Lupus bowed, "You flatter me, sir, comparing me to yourself…"

"Oh, do be quiet, my boy. The show is just about to begin…"

The wolf looked to the screen, and smirked, "I'll go make some popcorn, then."

~XIX~

Sonic heard a rumbling off in the distance, and as he peered off into it, his eyes widened. He looked to his kitsune friend, "Tails! Remember that bull thing Eggman set on us earlier?"

The fox nodded, worriedly asking, "Why?"

"Let's just say we should start running… if that thing gets to Westopolis, all these people's hard work will be for nothing…" Sonic got ready to speed off toward the still distant Egg Minotaur, "That thing's built to cause chaotic destruction…"

"A bull in a china shop, so to speak, right?" Tails half joked

Sonic made a breathy noise similar to a laugh in response, "Yeah…" and then sped off…

~XIX~

Xero heard a familiar rumble, "Hey… Knux, you hear that?"

Knuckles looked to him, "Probably just a trem-" he stopped, seeing a giant mechanical bull rush past him and the porcupine.

Said porcupine's eyes widened, "A ! Minotaur…" he smirked, "It's been a whiles since I played matador to one." He gave Knuckles a two fingered salute, speeding off after the bull, "Sorry, Knux, gotta deal with this!"

Knuckles stared bewildered, "… he's about as fast as Sonic.." As such, rushed after the porcupine as fast as he was able…

~XIX~

Tails looked into the distance, "Hey, Sonic! There's something else coming behind the Egg Minotaur!"

"Really? What?"

"I dunno… it's purple, that's all I've got."

Sonic started speeding up, readying to jump into a homing attack, "We'll worry about that later, for now, let's focus on the giant bull!"

The hedgehog found that this was much less durable than it's predecessor. While not breaking outright, its armor was quick to crack… still, the mechanized monstrosity was a rather dangerous foe…

"Hey, need some help?" The purple figure Tails had seen had arrived, apparently a burgundy porcupine.

Sonic looked to it, and smirked, "Hey, thanks!"

And so the azure and amethyst heroes continued nailing on the bull, until it exploded, its horns zeroing in on the porcupine and the hedgehog.

The porcupine leaped to his, making it dive to attempt to get him. In the meantime, Sonic lead his on a horizontal goosechase… naturally resulting in the two missiles colliding and blowing up.

Sonic laughed victoriously, "That Egg-head's gonna need a lot more to keep me down!"

He turned to this mauve new ally, and smirked, "So, who're you then?"

Xero jabbed a thumb at himself, as Knuckles had earlier, "Xero. Xero the Porcupine."

Sonic grinned some, "Cool. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog."

At that name, the porcupine's eyes widened, "You're…" he growled, "!'s founder…"

Sonic sweatdropped, "Wha?"

"No use asking for mercy!" Xero charged at the hedgehog, "I'll tear you apart!"

Grimacing, Sonic was quick to defend, "Well, not sure what you're talking about, but that last bit doesn't sound too fun!"

~XIX~

Eggman and Lupus watched from the former's base, enjoying a big bowl of popcorn. Between handfuls, the doctor chuckled evilly, "Finally… the main attraction…"

**WriterXero: Well, that was quite an adventure, I'd say!  
Sonic: Yeah, but…  
WXero: ?  
Sonic: You said I'd get a bazooka shot at me… it didn't happen.  
WXero: Oh yeah… (fires bazooka at Sonic) happy?**

**Sonic: OO no… (runs)**

**Shadow: I am…**


	3. Chapter 3

**WriterXero: Alright, here we are again! If you were here for the last chapter, then you know that Story-me was about to fight Sonic. If you weren't… um… why'd you, y'know, click the 'chapter 3' button?**

**Silver: Writer, are you stalling again?**

**WXero: …maybe a little. Anyway, on with the show!**

A few miles off from Westopolis, things were usually rather peaceful. Such beautiful clichés as singing birds and babbling brooks were abound, and it never seemed to rain. Truly, it was the epitome of tranquility.

Unless, that is, there was a battle of epic proportions between a blue hedgehog and a purple porcupine.

Xero's first strike met its mark, but Sonic was wise enough to put up the impenetrable defense of blocking with his forearms. Anyone who's played a fighting game understands this strange phenomenon: For some reason, forearms are invincible limbs, not capable of feeling any pain whatsoever.

Now that we've addressed that terribly unrealistic happening, let's get back to the fight between talking anthropomorphic rodents, shall we?

After blocking, Sonic did one of his fancy 'break-dance kicks.' Now, a common problem with this attack is that it can be avoided simply by jumping. While not many robots or other enemies of Sonic's realize this, Xero did, jumping up and trying to jackhammer kick Sonic in the head a few times.

He was met with a much more efficient guard, as Sonic began to charge a spindash just as the blows hit. Imagine putting your feet in an electric pencil sharpener. Well, it was kinda like that.

Things continued in this manner for several minutes. Tails stood relatively useless on the sidelines, thinking to himself, 'They're almost evenly matched… I don't think Sonic's been met with a challenge like this since Shadow!'

Eventually, the two rodents parted, both breathing heavily. Sonic grinned, "You're pretty good… why're we fighting again?"

Xero growled, "Save it, hedgehog. I know what you've got planned, and I'll stop you, no matter what the cost!"

The hedgehog sighed, "It's kinda poor form to not tell someone why you want them dead, y'know."

"… I'm going to kill you for the sake of this planet. For all those who would have fallen under !'s might… I guess you could say it's to reclaim the future… to reclaim the present… to reclaim…"

No. I'm not working the title into this story. Even I'm not that cheesy. Just as the porcupine's rant was coming to a close, he was met with a spin dash to the face. Xero was knocked to the ground, and sat up, looking at Sonic incredulously, "Did you just spin dash me during my dramatic monologue!?!"

Sonic rubbed his nose with his index finger, "Maybe a little."

"… fine, if that's how it is, I'll have to get serious." Xero suddenly reached into his quills, and ripped a particularly thin one out, holding it like a katana, "The spine blade. Impressed?"

The blue hedgehog nodded, "A bit, but I doubt that…" suddenly, the burgundy porcupine was behind him, Sonic only just managed to avoid the slash that followed, "That was too close… how'd you get so…" he was quick to dodge again, the blade coming within a centimeter of his face, "How'd you…" he had to dodge again, "WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH A SENTENCE!?!"

Xero smirked, swinging his quill/sword about with expert skill, "Not so funny when it happens to you, huh?" The porcupine leapt back, holding the blade straight up to observe it, "Although… I've gotta commend you, Sonic. This is the first time I've had to use this in a long time."

Sonic sighed, "I'm still not really clued in on why you have to use it at all. Really, what did I do?" he smirked, joking, "It was saving the world from Eggman all those times, wasn't it? I knew they'd come back and bite me in the ass eventually…"

"… no idea who you're talking about, sorry."

"… so Xero, what rock have you been living under, anyway?"

Xero growled, charging again, "Now you're just stalling again!!!"

Sonic was quick to charge up a spin dash. As he rolled toward the porcupine… he realized that Xero was now readying his quill as if it were a pool cue. The hedgehog quickly jumped, "Well, that could've ended badl-" he again was cut off, having to dodge an upward blow from Xero, "Then again, at this rate, it still might."

~XIX~

Now out of popcorn, Eggman still watched the fight intently from his base, chortling with glee every now and then. Hearing a nearby rustling, he turned his head, seeing Lupus donning a suit. He seemed to be struggling with the tie…

"… honestly, Lupus. Come here…" Eggman began to help his assistant with the neck piece, "The rabbit hops over the log… then crawls under the log. Next it runs around the log, because it's trying to outrun the fox, then dives into its hole, only to be captured and turned into a robot!"

Lupus smirked some, adjusting the tie a little, "I'm not familiar with that version, sir."

"Clearly. So, why exactly are you donning the penguin suit?"

The wolf shrugged, "Well, as fun as it is to watch Xero and Sonic kill each other, I'd best get to my _other_ job. They'll suspect if I'm gone too long…"

"Very well. Off you go then," with that, the doctor resumed watching the battle…

~XIX~

… which seemed to be drawing to a close. Both fighters seemed to be reaching the point of exhaustion, both seemed to be much slower than when the fight had begun.

Breathing heavily, Sonic thought, 'I've gotta wrap this up… another five or so minutes and I'm done for…'

Xero continued his ever-relentless assault, charging to swing with his spike sword. Sonic dodged, flipping over the porcupine… hearing a shout of, "Wrong move, hedgehog!!!" The next thing he felt was the spike sword colliding with his side. The blue furred hedgehog was sent flying a few feet, finding himself unable to get up upon landing.

"Sonic!" Tail shouted, rushing to his friend's side, "Sonic, you alright!?!"

Sonic smirked, "Yeah, Tails. I'm fine…" he tried lifting himself off the ground, only to collapse again, "Or not…"

The purple porcupine walked almost over dramatically toward his fallen foe, saying as he did, "You're lucky, Sonic. If my quills had blades, like real swords, you'd be dead now…" reaching the hedgehog, he lifted his blade, pointing it down towards Sonic, "Nonetheless… that can be remedied."

Sonic grinned, "Once more for good measure: why are you so insistent on killing me?"

"… even now, when you're about to die, you deny it?" Xero glared at the hedgehog with contempt, "Fine. You're the founder of the organization called '!.' Long story short, your little group essentially destroys the future. I'm sure you're very proud."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Hey, Xero, you sure you don't have any screws loose in that head of yours?"

Not familiar with the phrase, Xero was confused, "What?"

Tails nudged Sonic, "Um, you probably shouldn't be calling the guy who might kill you crazy…"

Sonic sweatdropped, "Nevermind. What I meant was, you sure you have the right guy? I mean-"

Xero interrupted, "Shut up! Once you're gone, me and Sasha can go home to some peace for once!!"

Tails leapt in front of the porcupine, holding his arms out in a classic-yet-useless defense gesture, "Please, sir! I know Sonic, he'd never create anything like that!!! He wouldn't even know how to form an evil organization-"

"Tails!"

"I mean, he just doesn't have anything like that in his heart!" Tails looked Xero, determined, "Sonic's a good person, Xero… I know from all the time I've spent with him…"

The porcupine was, for that moment, doubtful of his mission, and in that moment, he lowered his blade, "… this kid's quite devoted to you, Sonic."

Sonic smiled a bit, "Yeah…"

Xero paused some more, weighing his options, "… I guess I could've given you the benefit of the doubt..." he looked to Sonic, offering a hand, "Any objections to me keeping an eye on you, y'know, make sure you're all this kid says?"

Sonic took the hand, "Heh, beats dying by a long shot."

This produced a smirk from Xero, "Yeah, that's tr-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" It was then that Knuckles finally blazed onto the scene, giving Xero a solid punch to the jaw and sending the porcupine flying, "Sonic, you alright? I saw Xero fighting you, and thought I'd lend a hand," he walked over to the dazed boy, "I should've known you'd turn out to be our enemy, Xero…"

A large sweat drop rolled down Sonic's head, "Uh, Knux?"

"No need to thank me, Sonic, I'll deal with-"

Tails sighed, "We already resolved this, Knuckles..."

Knuckles blinked, "… oh. Well then…" he helped Xero to his feet, "Sorry about the whole misunderstanding…"

Rubbing his jaw, the amethyst porcupine replied, "No problem…" he looked to the echidna, "So you're friends with Sonic?"

Knuckles shook his head, "We're more of acquaintances…"

The hedgehog smirked, "Admit it, Knux. No one'll think less of you for calling yourself my friend."

Just as Knuckles was about to respond, a small robot that looked like a cross between a tv and a helicopter appeared out of the sky, and it seemed to be… was it chortling!?! The screen eventually buzzed to life, revealing the face of a man who actually quite resembled Theodore Roosevelt, "Ho ho, Sonic, Xero. I never expected _this_ outcome to occur!"

Sonic glared at the screen, "Eggman… I had a feeling you were behind this."

"Yes, because no one in the world has a grudge on you. Why not suspect Shadow, or even Knuckles for once? You know, one day it's not going to be me, and-"

"You're rambling, Egg-head."

Xero leaned toward Tails, asking the fox, "Um… who is this guy?"

Tails leaned toward the porcupine, whispering, "Dr. Robotnik, also known as Eggman. He's Sonic's enemy…"

"I see…" he stepped beside Sonic, joining the stare down against the doctor, "You 'never expected this outcome to occur?' Just what does that mean, doc?"

Eggman laughed some more, "Well, Xero, I've had myself a peek into the future recently… and I saw you performing oh-so-well against !." The doctor seemed to be gesturing wildly, not realizing that only his face was visible, "I thought, 'Why, that porcupine could prove useful to me!' So I enlisted the help of that time travelling fool of a wolf Lupus, fooling him into thinking that Sonic was the cause the destruction of his timeline."

Sonic growled, "So then this Lupus guy brought Xero here, and we were forced to fight…"

Xero looked to the doctor, "Well, that's not exactly the best plan. I barely managed to beat Sonic. What were you planning to do if I lost?"

The doctor shrugged, "I'd move on. You're expendable, Xero."

He growled in response, "… one other thing. Lupus brought someone else here with us… what happened to her?"

"You mean Sasha? The young fox currently rots away in one of my many cells… Lupus too, for that matter. Where you were expendable, she's merely useless…" the doctor seemed to be briefly deep in thought, "Perhaps she'd make a decent robot, once properly changed…"

In a rage, Xero cut the robot in half, "Bastard…"

Sonic smirked, "Blind rage aside, we can't exactly find his base without the robot taunting us, y'know."

Xero sweat dropped, "Sorry… I wasn't thinking…"

"Clearly."

Tails seemed to be checking something, "Actually, Sonic, I put a tracking device on Eggman last time we fought him, he seems to be in the Himalayas…"

Practically as soon as the two-tailed fox said this, Xero sped off in the general direction of said mountains. Sonic smirked, "Well, he's in quite a hurry." And rand off after the porcupine, leaving Knuckles and Tails in the dust, the former murmuring, "Look who's talking…" before gliding after the others…

All alone, Tails spent a few silent moments trying to think of something witty to say, finally settling on, "Hey guys, wait up!" he sighed, "Damn… I really need to think of something better for next time…"

~XIX~

Shadow placed the emerald on his boss's desk. His boss was that nameless general from the Shadow the Hedgehog game. Y'know, the one with one red eye and one blue eye.

"… well done, Shadow. Now, I need to discuss the matter of your new partner."

Shadow sighed, "With all due respect, Commander, I'm pretty sure you know how much I detest working with others…"

"And with all due respect, Shadow, I think you know how little I care."

"Touché," the ultimate life form shrugged, "So, it's Rouge again, I take it?"

His boss merely shook his head, "You've probably never met him. It's GUN policy to keep agents from meeting unless absolutely necessary."

"… then why not just partner me up with Rouge again? You wouldn't have to reveal this new guy to me."

A new voice spoke, "Pretty desperate to work with Miss. Rouge, aren't we, Shadow?"

The ultimate life form glanced toward the new voice, and saw a bespectacled wolf in a full black suit, complete with a white undershirt and black tie, "Well, aren't you just a walking cliché…" looking at the wolf's purpler hair, he revised that, "Well, maybe not completely, but pretty close…"

Laughing a little at that, the wolf smiled brightly. Once he'd finished laughing, he took Shadow's hand in his own, shaking vigorously, "It's an honor to meet you, Agent Shadow. A real treat, real treat!"

Breaking his hand free from the lupine's vice grip, Shadow made a mental note to watch the wolf's hands. Once something got in them, there seemed to be very little chance of ever getting it out. "Good to meet you too, Agent…"

The wolf adjusted his glasses, still smiling widely, "Agent Lupus, sir."

~XIX~

**Writer Xero: Well, that's an interesting development.**

**Shadow: … so I'm working with that mutt now? Ugh…**

**Story Xero: Well, on the bright side, things might be wrapping up…**

**Sonic: How d'you figure?**

**SXero: Well, WriterMe has us headed to Eggman's base to save Sasha. After that, there's not much else for us to accomplish in this story, y'folla? **

**Sonic: Hm… that's true. So, Writer, what happens next?**

**WXero: … well, I'm not sure… I've got no particular plans…**

**Silver: What if you have the reviewers give you ideas?**

**WXero: D'WHAT!?! I'd never stoop so low as to…**

**All: Yes you would.**

**WXero: … fine, I would. So readers, what say you? Any ideas as to what I should write next? I'll log away any suggestions for possible use later on.**

**Eggman: Hey, here's an idea: how about wrapping up this Author's Note before it's longer than the chapter?**

**WXero: /// Shut up, Egghead! *fires bazooka at him***


	4. Chapter 4

**WriterXero: Well, here we are again, for what may just be the last time for this story…**

**Shadow: Oh, stop acting so sentimental. It's not like you'll never write anything else.**

**WXero: Well… still!**

**Sonic: Hey, Shad… y'think Writer's trying to stall again?**

**Silver: *nods sagely* He's been doing it pretty consistently so far.**

**WXero: *in emo-corner* oh, *bleep* you guys…**

**StoryXero: *pokes head in* Hey, guys, can we start this already? The others are getting impatient.**

**WXero: … fine, let's go…**

**~XIX~**

As Xero and Sonic raced toward Eggman's base in the Himalayas, their surroundings were quite conveniently blurred by how fast they were going. Aside from making an animation or description of the setting absurdly easy, it also was quite quick to bore Sonic, who finally spoke, "So, this Sasha chick we're rescuing… just who is she?"

Xero said, rather flatly for the breakneck speed they were running at, "Friend of mine. Don't worry, she's apparently 'useless.'"

Despite the porcupine's seemingly negative mood, Sonic kept grinning, offering words of assurance, "Don't worry, Xero. We'll be at the base soon, your girlfriend's gonna be fine."

Xero glanced at the hedgehog, "My what?"

"Tree, Xero."

"Yeah, right. Look, Sasha's not my-" it was then that Xero crashed headfirst into the tree Sonic had warned him of.

Sonic skidded to a stop checking to see if the porcupine was alright, "You okay? You should really focus on your path when you're going that fast."

Xero rose, rubbing his head, "Yeah, I'm fine, let's go…"

So the two raced on, Xero eventually speaking again, "Anyway, Sasha's just a friend. Completely platonic, y'folla?"

The hedgehog smirked, "Well, that's hardly worth running headfirst into trees. So, what's your 'completely platonic' friend like?"

After giving it some thought, Xero spoke, "Sasha's… well, quiet. If you can get her to talk, though, she's really nice," the porcupine gave a chuckle, "She's actually a lot more level headed than me…"

"That's not sayin' much, Xero."

Ignoring Sonic's remark, Xero finished, "Unless you bring up her past… she keeps dodging any questions I ask about it…"

Sonic smirked a little, "Heh… so you might say she's got all kinds of," he did his best Shadow impression, "_secrets of her past_?"

Obviously not getting the reference, Xero glanced quizzically at Sonic, before swerving to avoid another tree… "Hm... I'd say we're almost there, huh?"

"So would I… if we speed up a little."

The porcupine smirked, "No problem…" and so, the two hedgehogs did just that…

A few miles back, a panting Knuckles shouted, "Would –pant- you two –pant- SLOW DOWN!?!"

Beside him, Tails wiped his brow, "I should've brought the Tornado…"

And so our intrepid heroes raced on in their quest to rescue Sasha the Arctic Fox, apparent damsel in distress… wait what?

~XIX~

No. She wasn't going to be a damsel in distress, no way, not her. The arctic fox placed her hands on the wall of her cell, focusing all her energy into her talent. The wall, grey turned to black in the darkness, began to shimmer, turning to ice. Sasha smirked to herself, "Whoever you are, you're pretty crap at building ce-"

She let out a sudden yelp, as the wall began to glow again, this time a deep red. Due to the brief light generated by this effect, Sasha saw that the palms of her gloves had been burned off, as had some of the skin on her uncovered fingertips.

"Ho ho, I see you've tried to make an escape!" whirling to the source of the voice, the arctic fox could dimly see the figure of a rather fat human. It was hard to tell, but he also seemed to have a rather large moustache.

She glared to the human, "Who the hell are you?"

The man made a mocking bow, "Your humble host, Dr. Ivo Robotnik… I trust that you're enjoying your stay?"

Sasha only growled in response, trying to find a way to rub one burned hand that didn't hurt the other. Eggman chuckled, "I may not need to explain this to you, but these walls can sense changes in temperature. If they reach the point of freezing, they'll take measures to avoid being completely changed to ice. They're equipped with other little precautions, but I don't see the need to bore you to death with details."

The arctic fox rolled her eyes, "Too late…" she focused on the doctor again, her eyes narrowed, "Fine, I'm your captive… so what have you done with Xero?"

Eggman grinned widely, "Well, thanks to that wolf's gullibility, I managed to set him on Sonic the Hedgehog. Unfortunately, the two seem to have teamed up. Quite irksome, but nothing that can't be remedied…"

"… then he's coming to rescue me?" Sasha sighed with a mixture of relief and irritation, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to play damsel in distress…"

"You won't. The fool has no idea where we are…" the doctor smiled cruelly, "No, it is not your fate to play the damsel in distress… more of the 'Tragic Monster.'"

The fox still looked defiantly at him, though she was now noticeably perplexed. As such, Eggman continued, "Your power… I believe the term for it is 'glaciokinesis.' Faced with enemies as fast on their feet as Sonic, such a technique would be quite useful to me…"

Sasha snarled at the doctor, "You honestly think I'll work for you after you tried to have my friend killed? Not very grounded in reality, are you?"

"Stupid little girl…" Eggman turned away from her, heading for the door, "I'm having a room heated up for us. Wouldn't want you to freeze me during your robotization operation, would we?"

At this, Sasha's eyes widened. She'd heard stories of the past, and had always thought robotization to be just a myth used to scare Mobian children. Knowing escape to be an impossibility, the arctic fox resigned herself to a wall, curling up into a ball… and waited…

~XIX~

At last, Sonic and Xero begun to scale the Himalayas. They'd slowed down so as to do so more accurately (and not fall to a rather messy death on the rocks below…). Eventually, the two found themselves facing generic badnik foes, and while at first they pretended the foes were a challenge, soon the two rodents found themselves almost toying with the robots. For example, Sonic might toss a particularly small 'bot to Xero to be struck 'out of the ball park' by his spike sword.

It wasn't long until the games had to come to an end, though, as the Sonic and Xero entered the base through an air vent. Because there is always an air vent, even for a base in the Himalayas, where the air is too thin to possibly be useful.

Once again, we've strayed from the topic in our complaints against the unrealistic. Back to the adventures of an anthropomorphic hedgehog and porcupine, both of whom speak english, and one of whom can make a sword out of what is technically his hair.

The two were faced with two pristine corridors (Eggman clearly overworked his janitorial service). They knew that only one could lead to the doctor's control room, the other to the cell block. No sane evil scientist would want to be too close to the cells, in the event of a breakout. Then again… who would say that Eggman was all that sane?

Still, Sonic looked to Xero, "We should probably split up. If you find Eggman, you know how to deal with him, right?"

The porcupine nodded, "Yeah, beat him over the head with my blade."

"It's not really a blade…"

"Whatever," Xero almost sped down one of the halls, but stopped short (you could literally hear the noise for when you suddenly stop in the old Sonic games), "Oh, and you know what to do if you run into Sasha, right?"

Sonic shrugged, "I've dealt with damsels in distress before, Xero."

Xero smirked, "Fair enough… I guess I'll meet up with you once we're through here, y'folla?"

Sonic gave a quick two fingered wave goodbye, "Alright, catch you later, Xero!" and he sped down the left hallway.

Xero stood there for one moment more, seeming contemplative, before rushing down the right hall…

~XIX~

Sasha seemed to have not moved from her 'hopeless fetal position' stance, seeming to have reached the stage where the flashbacks begin…

_~VIV~_

_An eight-year-old Sasha sat alone under a tree, striking a pose not at all dissimilar to the one her grown self was in. She watched the other children playing… sometimes she wished she could just join them, but usually, she was close-to-content with watching. Really, the only times she'd feel too bad was when one of them noticed her watching, and pointed out the 'Fox Freak' to their friends._

_Today though, something new happened… one of them approached her; he was a purple porcupine who looked like he was about her age. Even as she stared quizzically up at him, the boy didn't seem to be unnerved by her, like everyone else._

_Instead, he just smiled brightly, "Hi, I'm Xero. What's your name?"_

_She spoke in a rather reserved manner, whispering, "Um… Sasha…"_

_Xero smiled some more, "I saw you hangin' out here all by yourself, and… er…" he shrugged, "I dunno, you just looked kinda lonely, y'folla?"_

"… _I'm not that lonely…" the arctic fox raised her voice about a note, "And… uh… when you ask me if I ' follow…' uh…" she went a bit red, embarrassed of her ignorance._

"_Well, it's… um…" a big sweat drop rolled down the porcupine's head, "Well, I don't really know why I say it…Dad calls it a 'verbal tick.' But you're avoiding the issue here. You said you're not 'that' lonely… that means you're lonely, right?" _

_Sasha went red again, "Well… um…" she sighed, "yeah."_

"_Well then," Sasha noted that Xero's perpetual smirk always seemed so playful, yet genuine, "Want to come play with me? Nobody else here seems like they'd be interesting to adventure with."_

_The girl was quite shocked, but said yes. What followed was a clichéd, yet still heartwarming day filled with typical 'adventures' of childhood. By the end of the day, when Xero had to return home, Sasha honestly felt happier than at any point after… well… 'the incident' (to be conveniently vague)._

_As the porcupine left her, he turned briefly, "Sasha… today was really great. You can be here tomorrow, right?"_

_Sasha nodded… she'd probably be there until he returned, to be honest._

_Xero smiled once more, "Awesome… catch you later, Sash!" _

_As the night passed, Sasha still remained alone, doing nothing but reflect on the previous day, and look forward to the one that followed. Eventually, sleep took the young fox…_

_Unfortunately, she woke to a distinct feeling of pain. Opening her eyes, she saw several children, most appearing slightly older than her…a particularly small one turned his head to someone she couldn't see, "Hey, Ire, she's awake."_

_A green echidna approached, significantly larger than Sasha, "So, you're the fox freak? Not impressed." With that, he gave the girl a kick to the face, nearly breaking her nose. She was sent sprawling a few feet away, and Ire approached her, lifting her up by the collar, "Listen up, freak. Quit watching us like some serial killer, no one's ever going to come for you."_

_From a tree, a voice said, "Really?" Xero leapt down, kicking Ire in the head, forcing him to drop Sasha, "Well, Sash, I certainly didn't expect this…" he looked to the crowd of his assorted angry peers, "Well… um… we'll talk later, then…"_

… _Xero was eight. Faced with a veritable lynch-mob of his peers, he was lucky to live through the fight, let alone escape with just some cuts and bruises. Still, once it was over, Sasha saw fit to help him bandage his assorted wounds._

"… _you didn't have to do that, you know…" she sighed_

_He just smirked, "Sure I did. That's what friends are for, right?"_

_Her eyes widened, "Fr-friends?"_

"_Well, yeah! I'd certainly hope so, after that beating I just took-"_

"_But…but I'm a freak!"_

"_Meh, we'll have to discuss the definition of that word some day." Xero thought a bit more, "You… don't actually have a home to go to, do you?"_

_Sasha shook her head sadly._

"_Hm… you must get into a lot of danger, then…" when she nodded, he just smiled, "Whenever your in trouble, count backwards from ten. I'll be there by the time you've finished, I promise…"_

_~VIV~_

It was a silly promise; really… there wasn't any logical way for it to ever work, after all. Then again… suppose it did work, but Sasha didn't try? She wouldn't even be able to say she didn't try to keep from being turned against Xero. Her first, and possibly only, friend… she sighed.

'_Ten, nine, eight, seven…'_

She faintly heard a clattering down the hall, and what sounded like gunfire…

'_Six, five, four…'_

There was something rather familiar about the assorted shouts… well, the ones that weren't robotic…

'_Three, two, one…'_

Sasha heard something force the door open (Well, he couldn't exactly kick it down, he's a 'speed' guy…). Her eyes widened, "Xero!"

Yes. I had to do that pun. I thought it was clever.

Xero smirked, "There you are… let's get you out of here, Sash."

The fox tried not to cry from happiness, "Y-yeah…"

~XIX~

Sonic was quite literally running circles around the doctor's minions. It wasn't long until he arrived in the control room, "Alright, Eggman, you ready to call it a day, or…" he looked around the room… the doctor wasn't there… the self destruct mechanism for the base was, though…

The blue hedgehog laughed nervously, "Oh, shi-"

And then, of course, came the explosion. Sonic was fast enough to outrun it, which almost made it look like the blast was chasing him.

Xero and the freshly sprung Sasha were catching up, unaware of the explosion, until they saw a blue blur shouting, "HeyXeroyouandSashashouldprobablystartrunning!!!"

It took a moment for the two to figure out what he'd said, but the flames clued them in, and soon the group was racing down the mountain, Eggman's base burning behind them. The three looked to each other, all partially singed and panting. They practically collapsed with laughter.

A red echidna and two tailed fox arrived upon this scene. Knuckles looked to the laughing hedgehog, porcupine, and arctic fox, then to the burning base in the mountains nearby, "Well, we clearly missed something."

**~XIX~**

**WriterXero: Okay, I lied, this isn't quite the end. Consider the next chapter I write for this to be an epilogue or something, I've still got some things to address, as you can see.**

**Sasha: Hm. I got character development… and it was just vague enough for you to do what you want with it.**

**Shadow: Yeah, Writer tends to do that…**

**Ire: I'm a oneshot character!**

**Sonic: Why even announce that?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sonic: Well… this is guys. Writer's finally finishing this up.**

**Shadow: About time…**

**Silver: I know. He really needs to learn to update more consistently.**

**WriterXero: Uh, guys? Can we get started already?**

**All: OO**

**Sonic: Hey Writer, you feelin' alright?**

**WXero: Uh, yeah, why?**

**Silver: Well, you're usually the one stalling, so…**

**WXero: *waves the notion off* c'mon guys, we're almost at the end, just hold out one more chapter, alright? *notices readers* Oh, hi there. Sorry for the delay of epic proportions, and welcome to the last chapter of 'Reclaiming Now!'**

**StoryXero: In all its poorly named glory.**

**WXero: Oh, hush up…**

**~XIX~**

The explosion in the Himalayas did not remain a secret for long. Nearly omnipotent government-based-organization that it was, GUN knew about it within an hour of its occurrence. However, it took about a week for them to plow through the politics, diplomacy, and other processes that supplied GUN executives with absurd amounts of hellish paperwork.

So it was that a week after the event, GUN agents Shadow and Lupus found themselves investigating the scene of the explosion. The former knelt, analyzing a nondescript scrap of metal from the explosion. The wolf looked about the scene, "So, Shadow, what've we got here?"

"Well, it's definitely a terrorist organization of some so-" the black hedgehog was suddenly interrupted.

Lupus adjusted his glasses, "Dr. Robotnik, then?"

Shadow glanced at his partner, an eyebrow raised in suspicion, "… what makes you say that?"

The grey wolf calmly shrugged, "Who else has the funds to build an intricate… well, it seems intricate, base in the Himalayas?" he gave it some thought, and expanded, "Without GUN even noticing until it was destroyed, no less."

The ultimate life form kept at his inspection, coming across a few stray pieces of blue fur, "… so, you beat me here too, Sonic?" It was then that he noticed similarly strewn about tufts of purple fur, "… and who're you?"

Lupus, only having paid attention to the first part, spoke, "Shall I deliver our report? This seems like just another Sonic v. Eggman clash."

Despite being a bit hesitant, the black hedgehog nodded, "Go ahead… I'm just going to stay here for a little while, to make sure we didn't miss anything."

The wolf grinned in admiration, "Just like you, sir. Thorough to the end." He turned, and held up a hand in a half-hearted wave, "Looking forward to working with you again, Shad!"

Shadow growled a bit in annoyance, resuming his search, "Honestly, how did that ever catch on…"

~XIX~

As soon as he was out of earshot, Lupus whipped out a coal-black cell phone… soon realizing that, being in the Himalayas, he had no service whatsoever. So the wolf first headed down the mountains, before finally managing a singled bar…

A robotic voice spoke, "Please input vocal access code."

Lupus did so, "Project Bristow." The code was accepted, and the transmission to Dr. Eggman made.

He waited, and soon heard the familiar voice of the doctor, "Speak, Lupus."

"Oh good, I was worried you'd been killed in the explosion. GUN finally sent me to investigate the previous base's ruin… and you'll never guess who they assigned as my partner."

Eggman chuckled, "Hm, might it be Shadow the Hedgehog?"

The grey wolf let out his own chuckle, "But of course you'd know. In any event… the next base."

"What about it?"

Lupus shifted uncomfortably, seeming hesitant to ask, "Might we… go somewhere a little warmer? I mean, deep space and the Himalayas were impressive, but it's getting a tad predictable."

There was a brief pause.

"Besides, I hear Adabat is lovely this time of year."

"…" the doctor, wherever he was shrugged, "Adabat it is then… but in any event, what became of Sonic and his compatriots? Did we at least smoke out one of them?"

His assistant tensed, "I'm afraid… um… not only did Sonic and Xero escape unharmed, but they managed to rescue Sasha…"

The doctor seemed irked, but tried to keep his calm, "… then we've gained two more powerful foes in our efforts to rid ourselves of one… fare thee well, Lupus. I must ponder over this development." With that, the wolf heard a click…

~XIX~

But enough of the villains, where the bloody hell are Sonic and co? From the looks of it, Spagonia. Why Spagonia? Why not?

Having helped his new friends, Xero and Sasha, to escape the clutches of Dr. Eggman, Sonic now helped them with a little filler task: Getting them an apartment. The two time travelers were in the unfortunate position of not being able to get back to their own time, as they had no idea where the mysterious Lupus was.

As such, they saw fit to get settled into this time period, and Sonic wanted to test out his skills in real estate. After all, the blue hedgehog wanted his options open, in case the whole 'world savior' field ever ran dry. Eventually, the two settled on an apartment of fairly decent quality. It was no where near the amazing place Sonic had billed it as, but even so, it wasn't like he'd sell his friends a poor quality apartment.

The two attempted to live normally as a couple… a couple of friends of course. There's no romantic feelings between them, of course not. They began a cycle of sorts: Every day, the two would look for some form of job, only to return with no luck…

And so it was, about a week later, that Xero returned to find Sasha seeming to be struggling with a stove. Her abilities seemed to be acting up, freezing their food beyond any hope of being warmed up again.

Xero smiled some, "Here, I'll take care of it…" The meal that the porcupine produced was certainly sub-par, but… at least it wasn't frozen.

The fox sighed to herself, deep in thought. "Xero… it's been a while since we actually did anything, hasn't it?"

"Hm?"

Sasha sighed, "The whole reason we ended up coming back to this time was because we thought we weren't accomplishing anything in our own… but what have we done since we showed up?"

The burgundy porcupine began to count off a few things, on his fingers "Well… I fought against the guy who turned out to be this time period's equivalent of us… uh…"

The fox took a sip of her drink, "Then you saved me, again almost getting this time period's protector at risk."

"And from there we've done next to nothing…" Xero sweatdropped, "Wow… um… well, it's not like any opportunities have presented themselves, right?"

Sasha raised a logic finger of doom, "Even so, we should probably jump for the next oppur-" she was interrupted, as a gargantuan robotic blimp flew by, an aviator-hat-wearing Robotnik at its helm, laughing maniacally. The two stared for a moment, seeing a flash of blue racing after the mechanical monstrosity. A two tailed fox followed after said blur, landing on their balcony to rest…

Xero approached the boy, "Tails?"

The fox looked up, "Xero! Mind if I rest here for a while? Eggman kinda stole some of the chaos emeralds again… um, Xero, what are you doing?"

The porcupine smirked, doing a few stretches, "Getting ready for a wall run. Not much else I could be doing, y'folla?"

Sasha held up her fancy logic finger again, "Xero, there's about ten feet between the farthest end of the apartment and the window. You'll never pick up enough speed to run on the walls with that little distance…"

Realizing this, Xero pondered, "If only we had one of those fancy speed boosters that send you zipping miles into the air if you so much as lightly graze them."

The arctic fox mockingly assumed her own pondering position, "Or if you had a friend who could freeze the air in front of you so you could run on it."

Her purple friend remained defiant, "Yeah, but that friend couldn't hope to keep up with me, probably."

"Well, you could probably carry that friend."

"When that friend loses a few pounds, y'folla?"

"Oh, yeah, promote anorexia, why don't you."

Tails sweatdropped, "I'm just gonna go…" and he took off.

Sasha smirked, not noticing Tails leaving, "Besides, you probably couldn't carry such a friend even if she weighed less than Tails. You're too much of a..."

"Oh, just climb on my back already, y'folla?"

… which is why Xero found himself carrying Sasha piggyback style, her freezing the air in front of them. Sonic glanced at the two from a wall, and smirked, "Hey Xero, Sasha! Glad you could make it!"

Xero gave a two fingered salute, "So, we're almost close enough to get this thing, right?"

"I'd say so."

The porcupine nodded, "Hey, Sash…"

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever, Sash. I'm about to do something a little crazy, mind if I set that friend we were talking about earlier down, y'folla?"

The fox rolled her eyes, "Go for it…"

… long story short, Sonic and Xero, their fancy powers combined, sent the doctor running again. The two approached each other post-battle, and Sonic smirked, "That was incredible, Xero!"

"You weren't so bad yourself, Sonic!" Xero gave off a smirk of his own, and the two bumped knuckles. Their knuckles, not the echidna, that is. It was really cheesy, admittedly.

The blue hedgehog smiled, "Hey, you two want to be a part of the Sonic Team? We could use you two…"

Xero looked to Sasha, and she nodded slightly. The porcupine smirked, "Well, I dunno. We've just got _so _much to do as it is!"

"That's a yes then?"

And in cliché anime fashion, everyone got a bit of a laugh out of that. It seemed that, though they were far from home, Xero and Sasha had reclaimed their places as world saviors… and while things were far from normal, the two friends almost felt that they belonged here, in this time, with Sonic, more than they'd ever belonged in their original home….

**~XIX~**

**WriterXero: … WOW, I'm terrible at ending things.**

**Sonic: Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. You'll get the hang of it.**

**WXero: Murk…**

**StoryXero: Oh, and wasn't there something you were gonna do?**

**WXero: Oh yes! I originally created StoryXero as an author insertion character… but he seems to have grown apart from me as a character. So, henceforth, I will be 'Writer the Hedgepine,' and Xero shall be his own character.**

**Sonic: … yay?**

**Shadow: *laughing hysterically* Hedgepine? Really?**

**Silver: *rofling* It… it sounds like a crossbreed between a shrub and an evergreen *dissolves into laughter***

**Knuckles: *shrugs* Well, at least he didn't go with 'Porcuhog.'**

**Everyone: *explodes into laughter***

**Writer: … you know what? *beeb* you guys… *walks off screen, followed by cameraman* Well, I can't say I did as good a job as I'd like to have… but it's only my first story. I hope to see you guys again for my next story, which should be up a lot sooner than this chapter was… ^^; Til then, see ya!**


End file.
